That's not so easy. The numbers of the protesters appear tohave dwindled since the start of the week, raising questionsover what's next in a conflict that broadly pits Bangkok'smiddle classes against the mostly rural supporters of Thaksin,who was ousted in a 2006 military coup.

Yingluck, who won a 2011 election by a landslide to becomeThailand's first female prime minister, called on the protestersto clear the streets and enter into talks to avoidconfrontation, saying Thailand's economy was at risk afterdemonstrators occupied the Finance Ministry on Monday.

"The government doesn't want to enter into any politicalgames because we believe it will cause the economy todeteriorate," she said in a televised address.

In a sign support for the protest could be ebbing, policespokesman Piya Uthayo said the "main force" of anti-governmentprotesters in Bangkok was now less than about 15,000, down fromat least 100,000 on Sunday, though the total fluctuates throughthe day and into the evening.

The protesters' ultimate goals appear increasingly unclear.They have urged civil servants nationwide to resign en masse andfor the creation of a democratically elected "people's assembly"to run alongside parliament and lead electoral reforms. Neitherlooks achievable, at least in the near term.

Democrat leader Abhisit Vejjajiva, former prime minister ofa military-backed government that Yingluck routed in a 2011election, called on Yingluck to "move aside" and said partymembers would march with the protesters on Friday.

"This prime minister no longer has a mandate to govern thecountry," he told reporters.

"INSINCERE"

A defiant Yingluck has said she will not dissolveparliament. Even if she did, protest leader Suthep Thaugsubansaid the rallies would continue.

"No more negotiations," he told cheering crowds late onWednesday after thousands massed outside government ministries,a state office complex and 25 provincial halls. His step-son,Akanat Promphan, spokesman for the Civil Movement for Democracy,as the protesters call themselves, also rejected talks.

"The prime minister's suggestion that all sides sit down andtalk is insincere and we do not accept it," he said.

The protests began after Yingluck's ruling Puea Thai Partytried last month to pass an amnesty bill that would haveabsolved political offenses stretching back to a 2006 militarycoup, effectively clearing Thaksin of a 2008 graft convictionand allowing him to return from self-imposed exile.

The Senate rejected it, and Yingluck's party dropped it. Butthe bill galvanised the Democrat Party and its allies inprotests reminiscent of the "yellow shirt" movement which helpedtopple Thaksin and his supporters in previous years.

Yingluck's party holds a commanding majority in parliament.She needed more than half of the 492 lower house votes to winthe no-confidence vote. She got 297, with 134 against.

After the vote, protesters cut electricity to the policeheadquarters, forcing police to use a generator. One attacked apoliceman with a slingshot, striking him with a stone, saidAnucha Romyanan, deputy police spokesman.

They shouted abuse against Yingluck, a former businessexecutive, who they accuse of being an illegitimate proxy forher brother, a tycoon-turned-prime minister revered by the pooras the first politician to have addressed their needs.

Yingluck's party and its coalition partners faced three daysof debate during which the Democrats grilled her on a $100million water management project and financially troubledgovernment rice intervention scheme.

Those debates were as much about her as about Thaksin, amajor influence on her signature policies. Despite fleeing intoexile to dodge a jail sentence for abuse of power in 2008,Thaksin remains a political force, often communicating with thecabinet members via Skype from his villa in Dubai.

Critics accuse him of abusing his electoral mandate todismantle constitutional checks and balances while cementing hisauthoritarian rule during two administrations from 2001 to 2006.